A large lot of guns. What would you do?

New Member

I have a large lot of mostly collectible handguns and rifles; about a dozen or more each. They were part of a larger group from an estate liquidation. Now all the modern firearms are sold, but I'm left with these collectibles (read: older guns) and I would like the communities advice about how to get rid of them for the best price and least hassle.

1. I don't want to do them one-at-a-time like I did with the modern firearms. I know it's probably the way to get the most for them, but it's a bit of a pain in the ***. I want to sell all, or at least the bulk of them, in one sale.

2. The appraisal and sale approach doesn't appeal to me because I don't trust an appraisal from a potential buyer and although there are some moderately-valued guns in the collection, I don't think the cost of a stand-alone appraisal will be worth it.

This is not a solicitation and I will not entertain direct contact from this post. But, if anyone has suggestions or referrals, I would greatly appreciate it.

Anyway, back on the farm.

To me it seems like you have a conflicted mission. You want to get value out of them, but don't want to put in the time to determine value and get the value out of them.

If you want to clear them out quickly, the fastest way would be to call around the local gun shops and tell them what you have. Or better yet, take an inventory and email the shops or take it to the shops. Some might be able to buy you out. But you won't get great value for your items. Most likely 50% of what you feel you should get for them.

Or you perhaps take pictures, and toss them all up on Gunbroker.com or gunsamerica.com or whatever. And then sell them off that way. But that may be more work than you are interested in. I've even used gunbroker.com as a quick and dirty way to determine value. Not 100%, but it should get you in the ball park.

In closing, it really is do you want to get more than 50% of the value? Or just unload them quickly?

Well-Known Member

Without getting into the nitty details, I am a gun guy just like most everybody on here is. I would have no problem at all selling them in a way I have gotten used too and am good at. Especially if it puts 35% or more in my pocket than I would wholesaling them, which is what you are doing selling them in one lot like that. Just business.

Unless you miraculously find that one person who wants every gun you have and will pay a premium for the, then you are looking at a wholesale price. The aforementioned lists, adding armslist.com as well would work good.

Active Member

Lay them out in straight line with numbers next to them. Post them all in one post with pictures of the entire group, and simply put #1 (insert short description) $price. Offer a discount for a multi-gun purchase. Do this for the more valuable firearms. The rest take a group picture and simply state how much you want for the group. That's the easiest way I can think of to get the most for them with the least time investment.

Well-Known Member

do you have
old intact commercial hunting guns?
or
old intact military rifles?
or
old sporterized military rifles?

or (probably) a mix of all 3?

no one (who is knowledgeable) is going to evaluate these for you for free. You say you may have about a dozen? There are various forums where you can look up what they may have sold for in the past, double check the dates of any listings, some may be quite old. Stay away from Cabellas (their prices are all over the place). Likewise pawn shops. These guys will lowball you and talk down your guns.

Well-Known Member

This is not a solicitation and I will not entertain direct contact from this post. But, if anyone has suggestions or referrals, I would greatly appreciate it.

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Is this a way to suggest that your Victorian sensibilities would be offended by an offer from such riffraff, but that you would value the opinion of such low folks? Just a bit bi-polar don't you agree?

PPL Say Sleeping W/Your Rifle Is A bad Thing?

New Member

You might consult with DJ's Sport and Loan in Bothell. They deal in a LOT of used guns. They could probably give you a pretty good idea of value and they might want to buy them outright or take them on consignment for you.

New Member

Is this a way to suggest that your Victorian sensibilities would be offended by an offer from such riffraff, but that you would value the opinion of such low folks? Just a bit bi-polar don't you agree?

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Actually, I didn't want to appear to be spamming the boards and circumventing the forum rules of sale. I evidently have a higher opinion of the community here than you do. Just a bit of an inferiority complex, don't you agree?

All pie, all the time.Platinum Supporter2015 Volunteer

I know in Oregon that selling 25 or more firearms in one place at one time qualifies as a "gun show" and requires BG checks. You said you have both handguns and rifles and a dozen or more each, which sounds close to 25. Is the gun show law the same in Washington? Also, if you're making a decent profit off of these sales, that number seems large enough for some overzealous ATF agent to easily get you in trouble for engaging in the business of transferring firearms. I'm no lawyer and could be full of it, but if you're not a FFL then this political climate could find you some trouble if you're not following the letter of the law. Again, I don't know the specifics of the WA laws and I'm hardly a legal expert...just offering advice. I could be totally way off base here too... aranoid:

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